Journal of Mistress Kat

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I am tired. Because I got up at six to go swimming. In the rain. Wait. I mean I walked 20mins through rain and then got wet again in the pool. Rain had stopped for the walk home but has been really coming down today, complete with special appearances from actual hail and thunder. Today I also had to commit mass murder because one of my ceiling spiders had about 50 baby spiders and I cannot accommodate that. I feel bad (because pms I legit teared up when I vacuumed them up) because that wasn't explicitly in the rules. 

[In case you want to know, these are the Rules for Spiders in Kat's House:
1. Must stay above head level but not right above. Corner of ceiling is acceptable. Right in the middle of the ceiling above the sofa is not. Being at eye level or lower where accidental touching may happen, is very not acceptable. 
2. No running in the house. Only move when I cannot see it. Any and all kind of movement on furniture is verboten (see Rule 1). 
3. (new addition) No babies. I'm afraid we cannot accommodate families with children. Only single, child-free professional spiders are welcome.]


The point is, that I'm tired and cannot brain, so sunshine_revival challenge #4 'ten things that make you smile' seems like a doable thing. 

These are all everyday joys, not the big grand things of love and purpose etc. 

In order that I thought of it...

1. Trick's little squeaky meows. He sounds like a cross between a haunted house door and a dog toy. 

2. Sound of rain. Extremely soothing. 

3. The fact that I have managed to keep my Aloe Vera plants alive for over a year now. I am, as a rule, not gifted in things green and growing.

4. Blueberry coffee. 

5. Putting clean laundry out to dry on the line. Collecting it once dry and folding it nicely. Truly my favourite household task.

6. Berries, fruit etc. Today I've had raspberries, peach, and honeydew melon.

7. Swimming underwater. I'm up to five slow strokes underwater at the moment, starting from 'not out of breath for any reason' position, and working on it. It's so peaceful.

8. Getting silly memes, videos, pics and messages from my friends and partners throughout the day.

9. Candles and incense. I like former a lot and latter in moderation. 

10. Stickers on my work laptop. I recently had to change laptops which meant I lost all my lovely stickers on it but never fear, I ordered more. What I have on my work laptop lid and thus purposefully on full display to students and colleagues are stickers that say

• 'Safe Space', over a Progress Pride flag with a heart in the middle
• 'Tax the Rich', shouted by an angry cat
• 'Capitalism caused climate change', in fetching shades of green
• 'Pan, Poly, Proud', in Pan flag colours
• 'Trans rights are human rights', in Trans flag colours
• 'Work', over a silhouette of Schyuler sisters from Hamilton
• + a sticker of a cartoon cat vomiting a rainbow and another sticker of a black cat whose fur is full of stars

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Whoop! In London with pushkin666 and dreamersdare, getting ready for Stray Kids tomorrow!

For now, however, TXT serving moods with their concept clips. Like...
 

70s softcore soulmate-names-written-on-skin OT5 mood




Aesthetically bloodied dystopian angst mood




Woke up ready for the intergalactic technowar mood





Starship troopers with big guns mood



I approve!

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Today I'm just linking to the fandom bounty that has come my way over the last few months.

pezzax_podfics has again podficced bunch of my fics and I love her reading So Much, she has such a great way of conveying character voice and mounting tension where it's needed like in the last one linked here
Solar Couture (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Geurami/Youngwoo)
Vernal (Wheel of Time, Aviendha)
Patience (Wheel of Time, Bair & Egwene)
Renascent (Wheel of Time, Rand/Mat)
Temptation (Seventeen, Jihoon/Soonyoung)

pushkin666  is dropping so much fic goodness for me I can't keep up but I am feeling loved. These are like just the ones I've managed to read so far...!
Enduring the Torture (SGA, McBeck, adorable teasing)
Where Your Eyes Land (The Lost Boys, Michael/Sam, slowburn siblingcest mmhmhmhmhmhmmmhhng?)
The World Can Wait (Stray Kids, Chan/Minho, submission as caretaking awwwww)
Held in the Quiet (H50, Danny/Steve, tender d/s dynamics that had me melting into a puddle)
The Song Between the Realms (Stray Kids, Chan/Felix, fae au with forbidden love and Disney musicals)

Years ago pushkin666, dreamersdare and I wrote a little P!ATD round-robin and then this year pushkin666 decided to expand it into a full on series that is full of yearning and hurt and one of the most romantic things I have ever read. I was clutching my heart the entire time. The language alone is worth the read even if you don't care about the fandom. The description of the magic and how it winds through nature and hearts is breathtaking. There is a happy OT4 ending but it's earned the hard way. Highly recced! Here is a link to the whole series: Dancing's Not a Crime

I got lovely things via the seasonsofdrabbles too
all you by lovedays (Ateez, San & Wooyoung, sweet sofa cuddles)
You Like What You See? by facethestrange (Guardian RPF, Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong, sexual tensionnnnnnnnnnn)
Unspoken Care by pushkin666 (SGA, Radek/Rodney, care-taking and feels)

Finally, not fandom but extremely lovely and evocative, was this poem from trialia storm from a Salford bus stop

In conclusion: I am spoiled!

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The creative prompt for sunshine_revival was a recipe but I rarely 'do' recipes and am more of 'let's throw these things together' kinda gal. It works most of the time. 

The journaling prompt was favourite summer associated foods, so this is just a ramble of Stuff Kat Likes To Eat When It's Too Hot To Eat

Smoothies: I make a big jug of this, breakfast solved for like three days. I tend to default to 'plain yoghurt, frozen berries, honey, water' mix (I don't like my smoothies very sweet) but recently my peanut butter jar suggested that I could add peanut butter to my smoothies and now I Am Intrigued. It feels extremely indulgent tho. Peanut butter and banana smoothie sounds like a desert! But I want to try. 

Berries: I have yet to find a berry I don't like in some form or another. It's one of the main things I miss about Finland; ready access to fresh berries, like blueberries from the forest, or various currants and gooseberries from the garden. My local Tesco tends to have berries on discount often if you hit the store at the right time. I've been known to make a dinner out of that. 

Salads: Almost anything goes. My veg box is currently delivering so much green leavy stuff I'm shoving it everywhere. I like to throw in protein (chicken, fish, tofu, hummus) to make a lazy meal out of it. Feta cheese is an indulgence. I also like adding pickled/sour things like pickled cabbage or cucumber, kimchi (should make some again), olives, capers etc. Nom. Fruit if I want to get fancy with it. Seeds definitely. 

Hummus: I make this quite often, usually heavily lemon flavoured. 

Oven omelette: Eggs and whatever suitable veg/other things you have (salmon is super nice here). Top with cheese. And add cottage cheese for extra protein and to make it even more filling. Do a whole oven tray (10-12 eggs) and your breakfast/lunch/snack is sorted for several days. 

I do also like to barbecue things but can't be bothered to do it just for me. But when dreamersdare and pushkin666 are visiting it is by now a tradition for me to make some salmon bulgogi for the bbq. And I'll probably make some flat breads and tzatziki to, you know, make it fusion cuisine :D

And finally, new potatoes with butter. With some chives. Honestly, so good.

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YouTube algorithm threw this at me tonight and on this occasion the YouTube algorithm was bang on. This is, in fact, relevant to my interest. No, I've never heard of them until today. No, I did not know any of their names (I do now so A+ marketing). But what I do know is that this is the kind of soft queer pining vibe I'm absolutely into. And it's a bop. 




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Title: like what you (don't) see
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: K.A.R.D.
Pairing: Matthew Kim | BM/Kim Taehyung | J.Seph, Kim Taehyung | J.Seph/Original Male Character(s)
Tags: Ficlet, Canon Compliant, Jealousy, Denial of Feelings
Rating: G 
Word count: 720

Summary: “He’s looking at you,” Matthew murmurs under the guise of bending down to hand over a bottle of water.

Author notes: I was looking for a prompt to write something for the first challenge of sunshine_revival and then K.A.R.D. dropped Touch. And listen, they know what their target audience (the thirsty bis and pans) want and keep them well fed. I've been low key wanting more fic for this pairing and the MV gave me this brief frame at 2.09 where the (very hot) dancer looks like he's checking Taehyung out and... Well. Longer fic has been written on a flimsier premise. Unbetaed so if you spot a typo you absolutely should tell me about it.

like what you (don't) see on AO3

( like what you (don't) see )

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Title:  Midnight Tea
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Character: Teyla Emmagen
Tags: Drabble, Implied Relationships, Introspection, Caretaking
Rating: G
Word count: 100

Summary: She brews the tea when she can see the stars.

Author notes: Prompt = the title. 

Midnight Tea on AO3

( Midnight Tea )

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Title: Summoned
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Stray Kids
Pairing: Bang Chan/Seo Changbin
Tags: Drabble, Pining, Power Dynamics
Rating: G
Word count: 100

Summary: There’s nothing even close to an order in Chan's tone.

Author notes: Forgot to post yesterday because Hamilton but fear not, you'll get two drabbles on Sunday to compensate. Prompt = summon.

Summoned on AO3

( Summoned )

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Title: Veil
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Supernatural
Character: Bobby
Tags: Drabble, Resurrection
Rating: G
Word count: 100

Summary: Bobby never planned on coming back.

Author notes: Prompt = title

Veil on AO3

( Veil )

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Title: Whispers
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Ateez
Pairing: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa, Park Seonghwa/Original Male Character(s)
Tags: Drabble, Regret, Jealousy
Rating: G
Word count: 100

Summary: It starts as a whisper.

Author notes: Prompt = the title. 

Whispers on AO3

( Whispers )

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